Ecological Forces Structure Your Body's Personal Mix of Microbes

July 15, 2013

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Environmental conditions have a stronger influence on the mix of microbes living in your body than does competition between species. Instead of excluding each other, microbes that fiercely compete for similar resources are more likely to cohabit the same individual. The findings are a step toward building a predictive model of the human microbiome to study how medical conditions change this massive biological system.
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SourceUniversity of Washington

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